Bedford Park-Nortown

Phil Givens Park
99 Caribou Road
A small park near Lawrence Avenue West and Avenue Road that features a children's playground. Formerly Caribou Park, this park was officially renamed Phil Givens Park on May 10, 2016 by North York Community Council. Givens was the Mayor of Toronto from 1963-66 before moving on to Provincial office.

Kathleen (Kay) Livingstone Plaque
443 Bedford Park Avenue
Located in Bedford Parkette, a small park with mature trees and a children's playground, is a plaque dedicated to Kathleen (Kay) Livingstone. Livingstone was a social activist and broadcaster. A trained musician and accomplished actor, she hosted her own radio shows in Ottawa and Toronto. She served as the first President of the Negro Women's Association (CANEWA), who provided scholarships for Black students. This group also founded the Calypso Carnival, known for a period as Caribana, and today as the Toronto Caribbean Carnival. She was the President of the United Nations Association in Canada, and consultant for the Canadian Privy Council, where she was the driving force behind organizing the first National Black Women's Congress in 1973, giving a voice to African-Canadian women in Canada. She is credited with coining the term visible minority. Kay Livingstone owned a house in this community where the plaque in her honour is located.

Aisha Ali Artbox
Northwest Corner of Avenue Road and Lawrence Avenue West
This mural captures a sense of surrealism and absurdity though a group of bizarre creatures that aspire to brighten peoples' day. This mural intends to make people laugh, and bring humor to their lives.

Bedford Glen
1555 Avenue Road
*Note: Private Property. Please observe this complex from the sidewalk only. Bedford Glen is a late modernist apartment complex designed by Annau Associates and completed in 1976. These two buildings won both a Canadian Architect Award of Excellence in 1976, and the Canadian Housing Design Council Award in 1983.

Ledbury Park Skating Pavilion and Pool
160 Ledbury Street
Located inside this park is the Ledbury Park Skating Pavilion and Pool. This outdoor complex won a Canadian Architect Award of Excellence in 1996, and a Medal for Excellence from the Governor General's Awards for Architecture in 1999. The skating rink runs under a pedestrian bridge that links the parking lot to the pool, allowing visitors to observe skaters from above.

Edwin Alonzo Boyd Bank Robbery
2015 Avenue Road
On September 9, 1949, Edwin Alonzo Boyd, future leader of the notorious Boyd Gang, committed his first robbery at this former bank. He had served in the army during the Second World War as a military policeman and trained as a commando. Returning to his job as a streetcar driver didn't appeal to his sense of wanderlust. According to Boyd in an interview years later, reading a newspaper article about a child holding up a bank without even using a gun seems to have prompted him to try his hand at larceny. With a generous dose of liquid courage, Boyd walked into the small Bank of Montreal in this quiet neighbourhood, and onto the pages of history.

Sandra Tarantino Artbox
Northwest Corner of Wilson Avenue and Avenue Road
The design aspires to encapsulate the essence and diversity within the community. Chickadee birds and trees are superimposed on photographic imagery manipulated into vibrant, colourful graphic stamp images of people in various activity.

Strathrobyn (Canadian Forces College)
215 Yonge Boulevard
*Note: Private Property. Please observe this complex from the sidewalk only. In 1910, developer and speculator Colonel Frederick Burton Robins bought a large portion of this area and built his estate. Named Strathrobyn, the house was completed in 1914, just as the First World War was starting. He loaned the lands around the house to the Royal Canadian Air Force, who built a training facility and airfield in 1917. The Armour Heights Air Field trained wartime pilots, and aviatrix Amelia Earhart worked there for a brief period. The airfield was abandoned after First World War flying aces Billy Bishop and Billy Barker's Bishop-Barker Aeroplanes Limited, post war owners of the airfield, went bankrupt. While the airfield is long gone, Strathrobyn is still in use as the Canadian Forces College, an officer training wing of the Canadian Forces since 1943. The original stone gateway to the home is still in use.

Loretto Abbey
101 Mason Boulevard
*Note: Private Property. Please observe this building from the sidewalk only. Loretto Abbey was founded on the teachings of Mary Ward, a sixteenth century English nun. Central to her beliefs were that women were intellectual peers to men, and should be educated accordingly. This excellence in education for young women is a cornerstone to the Loretto school's teachings. The Loretto Sisters first opened a school in Toronto in 1847, and finally relocated to this location in 1928, when this Tudor Gothic style school and convent opened. The chapel was added in 1952, with stained glass windows by Yvonne Williams. Alumni of the school include Anna Olsen (chef), Ivana Santilli (musician), and Carly Foulkes (model). The school was used as a filming location for 'Cadet Kelly' starring Hilary Duff in 2002.

Hoggs Hollow Disaster
4042 Yonge Street
On March 17, 1960, five Italian immigrant labourers tragically died when a tunnel collapsed during construction at Hoggs Hollow. The men were trapped underground in a cramped, dimly lit tunnel. The lack of construction safety standards at the time led to a Royal Commission investigation, which resulted in better safety and labour laws in Ontario. These stronger rules and their enforcement have contributed to safer workplaces.